Imports from LiveJournal temporarily disabled

[denise]

Due to the previously announced login cookie and protocol changes LiveJournal has made, our content import system is having serious trouble reaching the site or accessing the exportable data in order to import it. Many people have noticed that our import queue is tremendously backed up, and is hanging on the 'verify' step (which is intended to just be a quick check that the username and password provided is accurate before starting the whole import process). We've looked into things, and it appears to be a combination of the changes LJ made and a bug in the import verification step that causes the process to hang when the remote site isn't available or is refusing logins.

Until we can work out the best way to handle the changes that LJ has made, we've temporarily disabled imports from LiveJournal, in order to allow people to still import from InsaneJournal (our other current import source) without getting stuck in the endless wait with the LJ import queue.

This is only a temporary step and is being used until we can make the necessary fixes, although unfortunately I can't estimate how long that will be. (We're currently waiting for more information from LJ on the changes they've made, and it's looking like we will need them to make a few additional code changes before we can make it work again; as things stand right now, we would only be able to log you into the site -- necessary for accessing the export files we use for importing -- by screen-scraping the login page, which is in violation of their bot access guidelines and very bad internet manners in addition.)

In the meantime, if you have requested an import from LJ that has neither failed nor succeeded -- you get a message in your inbox when that happens -- just hang tight. When we re-enable imports, the queued imports will go back to running.

I'm really sorry about the hassle, everyone. We will work over the next few days to see what we can do to re-enable importing from LJ, and I'll update everyone here if and when it happens.

Comments

[musyc]

Thanks for keeping us posted, denise!

[illariy]

Thanks for the info! I had started my semi-regular comments import yesterday and only noticed afterwards that the verification queue was already at 300+ and promptly got a bad conscience for adding to the load. Thanks for disabling and keeping us updated on developments.

In the meantime, if you have requested an import from LJ that has neither failed nor succeeded -- you get a message in your inbox when that happens -- just hang tight. When we re-enable imports, the queued imports will go back to running.

You all are awesome. ♥

[thegeminisage]

Good luck!

[evilawyer]

Thank you for all your hard work and for keeping DW accountholders updated with information. It is most refreshing.

[umadoshi]

Thanks for the update!

[netweight]

Thank you for letting us know. :)

[senmut]

Y'all keep me proud to be here. Thanks for the heads' up.

[lannamichaels]

Thanks for the update. :)

[darkspirited1]

Thanks for letting us know what's going on. It's very refreshing! I really appreciate the hard work you and the other DW staff are doing.

Have some cookies! *gives you all cookies*

[shinsetsu]

This week I also noticed when posting to LJ and DW using Semagic, the posts would go through, but if I needed to correct the LJ post, all of a sudden it would tell me I had an invalid password and refuse to bring up the posted entry in Semagic.

I wonder if any of this is related to the LJ changes.

[denise]

Yup, same principle!

[laguera25]

It would figure that after resisting the import for years, I decide to import just as LJ turds up the water again:p Oh, well, hopefully it will be resolved soon. Is there a way to abort the import if it still hasn't gone through a week or two from now?

[shinsetsu]

Oh! Thanks for confirming that. I was thinking it might be because I use an older version of Semagic since the new ones crash on me, but it only does that with LJ, so now I am relieved.

[denise]

I certainly hope it won't take that long to fix! There's no way to cancel a specific import, but don't worry about it; it'll just stay queued until we can get them running again.

[kore]

Thank you for the updates and transparency! I really appreciate it.

[hobbitbabe]

Thanks for the update! I haven't been able to import from LJ for several months now; the problem's on their end, so maybe these code changes will fix it too. Well, I can hope.

[denise]

Good news, the problem that was causing that issue (on LJ's end) has been fixed in testing and will be fixed in production with their next release. Just in time for this problem to crop up, mind you, but there is hope at least *G*

[hobbitbabe]

Things are looking up! You guys are great.

[denise]

Oh, that fix was totally theirs, I don't want to take credit for it!

[hobbitbabe]

I put that wrong. I mean, you guys are great to be passing on information about LJ.

[transcendancing]

Thanks for keeping us updated. *appreciation*

[solarbird]

Yeah, I'm watching my friends mostly decide they have Had It with LJ and are moving here, so I'm finally going to trigger that import - once you have it going again, anyway. It's sad, 'cause I've been over there since 2002, but this latest thing was some kind of last straw, I think.

[flit]

I think I'm hitting that point as well. It makes me sad but I prefer Dreamwidth's design ethos and inclusiveness anyhow and was mostly keeping LJ as my primary out of stodginess and resistance to change and to keep touch with LJ-only people.

[veracity]

I know mine's in queue but I wasn't expecting it to be up anytime without this update anyway. I mostly did it because I've got the brain full of molding swiss cheese lately and I'd never remember it in a month. School's pulling me in too many directions.

[gerdh]

Thank you and good luck!